| |
The Carol "The Double Barrel" Wirth vs. Mary Touralotte fight,
debuts for both women, scheduled for four rounds, was scratched from the card,
reportedly due to Ms. Touralotte weighing in at 11 pounds over the limit, and
not supplying the blood workups demanded of (women?) boxers by the
California State Athletic Commission. Weight for this fight was to be 147
or below.
The above deletion left the promotion with only 24 rounds of
boxing scheduled, two rounds below the State Commission's minimum of at least
26 rounds in each event. Per the State rules, the audience was offered
their money back before the start of the first fight. There appeared to be
no takers. I'm sure Ms. Touralotte did not realize that her lack of
attention to her weight, which might be considered by some to be
unprofessional, if one can be considered a professional boxer before a debut
bout, would cause such problems for the promoter who counted upon her to fill
out his card for his paying audience.
The Main Event of the evening was a ten round fight between
Gina "Boom Boom" Guidi and Trina Ortegon for the IWBF World Middleweight title.
Both fighters weighed in at 153 pounds and looked
extremely fit, Trina in dark blue with a blue sequined top, and Gina in
purple with white areas adorned by purple stars. Gina's
record was 12-1-1 with 5 KOs, Trina's 8-1 with 2 KO'. A
great matchup. Trina appeared taller by about 3 - 4 inches, had a reach
advantage, and Gina appeared more muscular in her upper body.
This appeared to be an obvious test of Trina's ability to
keep Gina from getting inside, to within Gina's reach, and Gina's ability to
slip Trina's jab and hammer to the body, setting up her favorite overhand
right when Trina lowered her elbows to guard her stomach. Well, it seemed
that it should start out that way, but...
Round One:
Both fighters came out at the opening bell throwing hard to
the face and head. Both bobbed and weaved, not saving them from much
leather, but their hands were too busy for much defence. Both were trying
to make the other back down and box, but neither would give up the offensive.
At about a minute into the round, both having taken stiff shots to the
jaw, Trina tagged Gina with a right bomb that shook her. Trina tried to
move in but Gina was right back at her, and 15 or 20 seconds later, set the
reciprocal tone of the fight by rocking Trina with a hard right to the face
that snapped her head around. At the bell, both fighters were throwing
"punches in bunches" and landing squarely on each other. The crowd gave
them a standing ovation, as they did between every round. Even the referree
spontaneously applauded both, something that I have never seen before.
Reporter's note: This fight was so close that I won't
attempt to record my impression of the round-by-round score, but only
summarize at the end of the report
Round Two:
Trina came out, moving forward and sticking her sharp jabs
into Gina's face, keeping her at bay for about 20 seconds. These were not
tapping jabs, but solid blows. Gina was taking punishment and couldn't seem
to solve Trina's attack, until she managed to slip one jab and throw her
patented overhand right upward into the taller Trina's head. It connected,
but to little effect. Trina then stopped the jabbing and went back to toe
to toe exchanges until the end of the round. There was no clinching, and
only subtle bobbing defence as both fighters appeared to want to make this a
slugfest.
Round Three:
Trina came out quickly, banged Gina to the ropes, and landed
10 or 11 unanswered hard head shots. Gina appeared to be in trouble,
covering up, but suddenly started to return blow for blow. Once off of the
ropes, Gina and Trina each landed hard shots to the head and face for the
rest of the round.
Reporter's comment. I must point out that there was a WAR
going on in the ring, with constant attacks and exchanges. There was no
dancing done by either warrior, and without exaggeration, "the energy knob
was up to 11" between each bell.
Round Four:
At the bell, Trina took charge of the fight and backed Gina
into the ropes, not by pushing, but with her fists. Gina had no choice but
to cover up with the ropes digging into her back. Trina tried to KO Gina
then and there. Could this be the end for the hometown woman? Gina
appeared to be reeling, but with amazing recovery, Gina came back, fought her
way (not dodged or slipped) off of the ropes again and returned to the
incredible exchanges that marked this fight. Near the end of the round,
Gina rocked Trina's world with a right, but this was Trina's best round of
the night. Gina might have stolen the round with that punch.
Round Five:
Trina came out using a different strategy from the previous
round. She held Gina off with her continually snapping jab once more,
making Gina's blows fall short of their target, while sending rights into
Gina's face as the opportunities arose. Gina was once again punished
without being able to respond, for a few seconds at least. Gina finally
countered by barging inside on Trina, throwing and taking punches as she did,
trying her overhand and uppercut rights with some success, and the fighters
again went toe to toe with heavy exchanges, with no resting, for the rest of
the round.
Round Six:
Gina came out firing aggressively at the bell, slipping
inside Trina's fists, and started a brutal exchange of body blows that had
both women wincing. One would land a shot to the ribs or stomach, the other
would adjust her arms to cover the target area, then hope that she could get
her glove up to stop the incoming leather missile to her head. Both fighters
were successful more than not during this round. Both rocked each other
noticeably, and Gina landed one of her hardest punches to the jaw as the bell
rung. Thinking she might have made contact after the bell, Gina offered her
glove for Trina to tap before returning to her stool, but Trina was already
returning to her corner.
Round Seven:
The pace slowed slightly in this round, with Trina
controlling the action at first. Both fighters threw a few less punches,
but at closer range and with more effort and determination, if that is
possible. Digging to the body and sending slam after slam to the jaw rocked
first one, then the other. This was not the kind of a fight in which a
boxer could think she was winning. Each round was too close for
confidence as to the outcome. Each blow could tip the fight one way or the
other. Gina was able to get back inside on Trina, and both women landed
telling head shots. It was unbelievable that with such accurate and
continuous punishment, neither fighter went down. It was just heavy
pounding again by both till the end of the round.
Round Eight:
Trina again controlled the fight at the beginning of the
round, but both landed heavy blows. Both fighters were noticeably slowing
now, but still able to mount fierce exchanges, mostly to the head and face.
Uppercuts were more prevalent than in the former rounds as the women were
fighting head to head now, actually prying each other's gloves apart to land
the first punch preceding a hard combination. Suddenly, Trina again
knocked Gina to the ropes with a fast combination and flurried for a knockout.
Gina bobbed and covered, then started to return Trina's punches and was
able to get to the center of the ring again. Surprisingly, Gina's
counter-attack was able to back Trina up as both threw heavily and landed
hard at the bell.
Round Nine:
With only four minutes left in the fight, Gina pulled up a
reserve of energy and came at Trina hard, forcing her to give ground, but
with both landing during the exchanges. Trina then came forward and forced
Gina into infighting. Even though Trina was taller and had longer arms,
usually a disadvantage in infighting, she landed as many and as telling blows
as did Gina. This was not pushing and shoving infighting, but pounding
fists to opponent's body and head at close range. The last ten seconds saw
a vicious war up until the bell, with non-stop punches landing.
And finally,
Round Ten:
Both women knew that this round could determine the winner of
the match. Gina started the round by controlling the infighting and landing
the more telling blows, forcing Trina to cover her head and body rather than
throwing leather. However, this lasted for about 20 seconds only. Working
mainly the body, with sharp rights and left combos to the head, Trina matched
Gina's charge and returned the fight to an equal exchange at a more open
range. As the round wound down, both warriors went all out, leaving nothing
"in the tank", trying for that bolt of lightning, that quick KO before the
final bell. No matter how hard they hit each other, and "clobbering" is the
perfect word, neither was successful, and the bell turned the affair from a
fight to a respectful embrace.
To the Cards:
At this point, after the magnificent effort by Gina and
Trina, a bout that would make the Best-of-the-Decade list if videoed, no
one in the arena could know who had won the fight. It was impossible to
tell, the fight was that even.
One judge, 97-93 for Guidi.
Another judge, 96-96, a draw.
And the third judge, 97-93,
a Majority Decision for ... Gina Guidi, the IWBF
world's champion middleweight female boxer!!
Reporter's comment:
Immediately after the fight ended and the decision announced,
I couldn't remember the three rounds that Gina lost, or the seven rounds that
Trina lost. The feeling of the cheering audience was that neither fighter
should have lost such a wonderful combat. I agreed with the judge who saw a
draw. And, at most, Gina should have won by only one round, 96-94. But
that is Boxing Luck, this time bad for Trina Ortegon, good for Gina Guidi.
Both women should be extremely proud of their efforts last
night. It was an example of the very best that women's boxing has to offer,
and it don't get any better than that. |
|
